Chapter 25: God's Law Immutable

"The temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was
seen in His temple the ark of His testament." Revelation 11:19. The ark of
God's testament is in the holy of holies, the second apartment of the
sanctuary. In the ministration of the earthly tabernacle, which served
"unto the example and shadow of heavenly things," this apartment was
opened only upon the great Day of Atonement for the cleansing of the sanctuary.
Therefore the announcement that the temple of God was opened in heaven and the
ark of His testament was seen points to the opening of the most holy place of
the heavenly sanctuary in 1844 as Christ entered there to perform the closing
work of the atonement. Those who by faith followed their great High Priest as
He entered upon His ministry in the most holy place, beheld the ark of His
testament. As they had studied the subject of the sanctuary they had come to
understand the Saviour's change of ministration, and they saw that He was now
officiating before the ark of God, pleading His blood in behalf of sinners. {GC 433.1}

The ark in the tabernacle on earth contained the two tables
of stone, upon which were inscribed the precepts of the law of God. The ark was
merely a receptacle for the tables of the law, and the presence of these divine
precepts gave to it its value and sacredness. When the temple of God was opened
in heaven, the ark of His testament was seen. [434] Within
the holy of holies, in the sanctuary in heaven, the divine law is sacredly
enshrined—the law that was spoken by God Himself amid the thunders of
Sinai and written with His own finger on the tables of stone. {GC 433.2}

The law of God in the sanctuary in heaven is the great
original, of which the precepts inscribed upon the tables of stone and recorded
by Moses in the Pentateuch were an unerring transcript. Those who arrived at an
understanding of this important point were thus led to see the sacred, unchanging
character of the divine law. They saw, as never before, the force of the
Saviour's words: "Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall
in no wise pass from the law." Matthew 5:18. The law of God, being a
revelation of His will, a transcript of His character, must forever endure,
"as a faithful witness in heaven." Not one command has been annulled;
not a jot or tittle has been changed. Says the psalmist: "Forever, O Lord,
Thy word is settled in heaven." "All His commandments are sure. They
stand fast for ever and ever." Psalm 119:89; 111:7, 8. {GC 434.1}

In the very bosom of the Decalogue is the fourth
commandment, as it was first proclaimed: "Remember the Sabbath day, to
keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: but the seventh
day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou,
nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy
cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days the Lord
made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh
day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it." Exodus
20:8-11. {GC 434.2}

The Spirit of God impressed the hearts of those students of
His word. The conviction was urged upon them that they had ignorantly
transgressed this precept by disregarding the Creator's rest day. They began to
examine the reasons for observing the first day of the week instead of the day
which God had sanctified. They could find no evidence in the [435]
Scriptures that the fourth commandment had been abolished, or that the Sabbath
had been changed; the blessing which first hallowed the seventh day had never
been removed. They had been honestly seeking to know and to do God's will; now,
as they saw themselves transgressors of His law, sorrow filled their hearts,
and they manifested their loyalty to God by keeping His Sabbath holy. {GC 434.3}

Many and earnest were the efforts made to overthrow their
faith. None could fail to see that if the earthly sanctuary was a figure or
pattern of the heavenly, the law deposited in the ark on earth was an exact
transcript of the law in the ark in heaven; and that an acceptance of the truth
concerning the heavenly sanctuary involved an acknowledgment of the claims of
God's law and the obligation of the Sabbath of the fourth commandment. Here was
the secret of the bitter and determined opposition to the harmonious exposition
of the Scriptures that revealed the ministration of Christ in the heavenly
sanctuary. Men sought to close the door which God had opened, and to open the
door which He had closed. But "He that openeth, and no man shutteth; and
shutteth, and no man openeth," had declared: "Behold, I have set
before thee an open door, and no man can shut it." Revelation 3:7, 8.
Christ had opened the door, or ministration, of the most holy place, light was
shining from that open door of the sanctuary in heaven, and the fourth
commandment was shown to be included in the law which is there enshrined; what
God had established, no man could overthrow. {GC 435.1}

Those who had accepted the light concerning the mediation of
Christ and the perpetuity of the law of God found that these were the truths
presented in Revelation 14. The messages of this chapter constitute a threefold
warning (see Appendix) which is to prepare the inhabitants of the earth for the
Lord's second coming. The announcement, "The hour of His judgment is
come," points to the closing work of Christ's ministration for the
salvation of men. It heralds a [436] truth which must be proclaimed
until the Saviour's intercession shall cease and He shall return to the earth
to take His people to Himself. The work of judgment which began in 1844 must
continue until the cases of all are decided, both of the living and the dead; hence
it will extend to the close of human probation. That men may be prepared to
stand in the judgment, the message commands them to "fear God, and give
glory to Him," "and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the
sea, and the fountains of waters." The result of an acceptance of these
messages is given in the word: "Here are they that keep the commandments
of God, and the faith of Jesus." In order to be prepared for the judgment,
it is necessary that men should keep the law of God. That law will be the
standard of character in the judgment. The apostle Paul declares: "As many
as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law, . . . in the
day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ." And he says
that "the doers of the law shall be justified." Romans 2:12-16. Faith
is essential in order to the keeping of the law of God; for "without faith
it is impossible to please Him." And "whatsoever is not of faith is
sin." Hebrews 11:6; Romans 14:23. {GC 435.2}

By the first angel, men are called upon to "fear God,
and give glory to Him" and to worship Him as the Creator of the heavens
and the earth. In order to do this, they must obey His law. Says the wise man:
"Fear God, and keep His commandments: for this is the whole duty of man."
Ecclesiastes 12:13. Without obedience to His commandments no worship can be
pleasing to God. "This is the love of God, that we keep His
commandments." "He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law,
even his prayer shall be abomination." 1 John 5:3; Proverbs 28:9. {GC 436.1}

The duty to worship God is based upon the fact that He is
the Creator and that to Him all other beings owe their existence. And wherever,
in the Bible, His claim to reverence and worship, above the gods of the
heathen, is presented, [437] there is cited the evidence of
His creative power. "All the gods of the nations are idols: but the Lord
made the heavens." Psalm 96:5. "To whom then will ye liken Me, or
shall I be equal? saith the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who
hath created these things." "Thus saith the Lord that created the
heavens; God Himself that formed the earth and made it: . . . I am
the Lord; and there is none else." Isaiah 40:25, 26; 45:18. Says the
psalmist: "Know ye that the Lord He is God: it is He that hath made us,
and not we ourselves." "O come, let us worship and bow down: let us
kneel before the Lord our Maker." Psalm 100:3; 95:6. And the holy beings
who worship God in heaven state, as the reason why their homage is due to Him:
"Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for Thou
hast created all things." Revelation 4:11. {GC 436.2}

In Revelation 14, men are called upon to worship the
Creator; and the prophecy brings to view a class that, as the result of the
threefold message, are keeping the commandments of God. One of these
commandments points directly to God as the Creator. The fourth precept
declares: "The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God:
. . . for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and
all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the
Sabbath day, and hallowed it." Exodus 20:10, 11. Concerning the Sabbath,
the Lord says, further, that it is "a sign, . . . that ye may
know that I am the Lord your God." Ezekiel 20:20. And the reason given is:
"For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He
rested, and was refreshed." Exodus 31:17. {GC 437.1}

"The importance of the Sabbath as the memorial of
creation is that it keeps ever present the true reason why worship is due to
God"—because He is the Creator, and we are His creatures.
"The Sabbath therefore lies at the very foundation of divine worship, for
it teaches this great truth in the most impressive manner, and no other
institution does this. The true ground of divine worship, not of that on the
seventh day [438] merely, but of all worship, is
found in the distinction between the Creator and His creatures. This great fact
can never become obsolete, and must never be forgotten."—J. N.
Andrews, History of the Sabbath, chapter 27. It was to keep this truth
ever before the minds of men, that God instituted the Sabbath in Eden; and so
long as the fact that He is our Creator continues to be a reason why we should
worship Him, so long the Sabbath will continue as its sign and memorial. Had
the Sabbath been universally kept, man's thoughts and affections would have
been led to the Creator as the object of reverence and worship, and there would
never have been an idolater, an atheist, or an infidel. The keeping of the
Sabbath is a sign of loyalty to the true God, "Him that made heaven, and
earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters." It follows that the
message which commands men to worship God and keep His commandments will
especially call upon them to keep the fourth commandment. {GC 437.2}

In contrast to those who keep the commandments of God and
have the faith of Jesus, the third angel points to another class, against whose
errors a solemn and fearful warning is uttered: "If any man worship the beast
and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same
shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God." Revelation 14:9, 10. A
correct interpretation of the symbols employed is necessary to an understanding
of this message. What is represented by the beast, the image, the mark? {GC 438.1}

The line of prophecy in which these symbols are found begins
with Revelation 12, with the dragon that sought to destroy Christ at His birth.
The dragon is said to be Satan (Revelation 12:9); he it was that moved upon
Herod to put the Saviour to death. But the chief agent of Satan in making war
upon Christ and His people during the first centuries of the Christian Era was
the Roman Empire, in which paganism was the prevailing religion. Thus while the
dragon, primarily, represents Satan, it is, in a secondary sense, a symbol of
pagan Rome. [439]{GC 438.2}

In chapter 13 (verses 1-10) is described another beast,
"like unto a leopard," to which the dragon gave "his power, and
his seat, and great authority." This symbol, as most Protestants have
believed, represents the papacy, which succeeded to the power and seat and
authority once held by the ancient Roman empire. Of the leopardlike beast it is
declared: "There was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and
blasphemies. . . . And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God,
to blaspheme His name, and His tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. And
it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and
power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations." This
prophecy, which is nearly identical with the description of the little horn of
Daniel 7, unquestionably points to the papacy. {GC 439.1}

"Power was given unto him to continue forty and two
months." And, says the prophet, "I saw one of his heads as it were
wounded to death." And again: "He that leadeth into captivity shall
go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the
sword." The forty and two months are the same as the "time and times
and the dividing of time," three years and a half, or 1260 days, of Daniel
7 - - the time during which the papal power was to oppress God's people. This
period, as stated in preceding chapters, began with the supremacy of the
papacy, A.D. 538, and terminated in 1798. At that time the pope was made
captive by the French army, the papal power received its deadly wound, and the
prediction was fulfilled, "He that leadeth into captivity shall go into
captivity." {GC
439.2}

"I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth;
and he had two horns like a lamb." Revelation 13:11.

At this point another symbol is introduced. Says the
prophet: "I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had
two horns like a lamb." Verse 11. Both the appearance of this beast and
the manner of its rise indicate that the nation which it represents is unlike
those presented under the preceding symbols. The great kingdoms that have ruled
the world were presented to the prophet Daniel as [440] beasts
of prey, rising when "the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great
sea." Daniel 7:2. In Revelation 17 an angel explained that waters
represent "peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues."
Revelation 17:15. Winds are a symbol of strife. The four winds of heaven
striving upon the great sea represent the terrible scenes of conquest and
revolution by which kingdoms have attained to power. {GC 439.3}

But the beast with lamblike horns was seen "coming up
out of the earth." Instead of overthrowing other powers to establish
itself, the nation thus represented must arise in territory previously
unoccupied and grow up gradually and peacefully. It could not, then, arise
among the crowded and struggling nationalities of the Old World—that
turbulent sea of "peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues."
It must be sought in the Western Continent. {GC 440.1}

What nation of the New World was in 1798 rising into power,
giving promise of strength and greatness, and attracting the attention of the
world? The application of the symbol admits of no question. One nation, and
only one, meets the specifications of this prophecy; it points unmistakably to
the United States of America. Again and again the thought, almost the exact
words, of the sacred writer has been unconsciously employed by the orator and
the historian in describing the rise and growth of this nation. The beast was seen
"coming up out of the earth;" and, according to the translators, the
word here rendered "coming up" literally signifies "to grow or
spring up as a plant." And, as we have seen, the nation must arise in
territory previously unoccupied. A prominent writer, describing the rise of the
United States, speaks of "the mystery of her coming forth from
vacancy," and says: "Like a silent seed we grew into
empire."—G. A. Townsend, The New World Compared With the Old,
page 462. A European journal in 1850 spoke of the United States as a wonderful
empire, which was "emerging," and "amid the silence of the
earth daily adding to its power and pride." —The Dublin
Nation. Edward Everett, in an oration on [441] the
Pilgrim founders of this nation, said: "Did they look for a retired spot,
inoffensive for its obscurity, and safe in its remoteness, where the little
church of Leyden might enjoy the freedom of conscience? Behold the mighty
regions over which, in peaceful conquest, . . . they have
borne the banners of the cross!"—Speech delivered at Plymouth,
Massachusetts, Dec. 22, 1824, page 11. {GC 440.2}

"And he had two horns like a lamb." The lamblike
horns indicate youth, innocence, and gentleness, fitly representing the
character of the United States when presented to the prophet as "coming
up" in 1798. Among the Christian exiles who first fled to America and
sought an asylum from royal oppression and priestly intolerance were many who
determined to establish a government upon the broad foundation of civil and
religious liberty. Their views found place in the Declaration of Independence,
which sets forth the great truth that "all men are created equal" and
endowed with the inalienable right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness." And the Constitution guarantees to the people the right of
self-government, providing that representatives elected by the popular vote
shall enact and administer the laws. Freedom of religious faith was also
granted, every man being permitted to worship God according to the dictates of
his conscience. Republicanism and Protestantism became the fundamental
principles of the nation. These principles are the secret of its power and
prosperity. The oppressed and downtrodden throughout Christendom have turned to
this land with interest and hope. Millions have sought its shores, and the
United States has risen to a place among the most powerful nations of the
earth. {GC 441.1}

But the beast with lamblike horns "spake as a dragon.
And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the
earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly
wound was healed; . . . saying to them that dwell on the earth, that
they should make [442] an image to the beast, which had
the wound by a sword, and did live." Revelation 13:11-14. {GC 441.2}

The lamblike horns and dragon voice of the symbol point to a
striking contradiction between the professions and the practice of the nation
thus represented. The "speaking" of the nation is the action of its
legislative and judicial authorities. By such action it will give the lie to
those liberal and peaceful principles which it has put forth as the foundation
of its policy. The prediction that it will speak "as a dragon" and
exercise "all the power of the first beast" plainly foretells a
development of the spirit of intolerance and persecution that was manifested by
the nations represented by the dragon and the leopardlike beast. And the
statement that the beast with two horns "causeth the earth and them which
dwell therein to worship the first beast" indicates that the authority of
this nation is to be exercised in enforcing some observance which shall be an
act of homage to the papacy. {GC
442.1}

Such action would be directly contrary to the principles of
this government, to the genius of its free institutions, to the direct and
solemn avowals of the Declaration of Independence, and to the Constitution. The
founders of the nation wisely sought to guard against the employment of secular
power on the part of the church, with its inevitable result—intolerance
and persecution. The Constitution provides that "Congress shall make no
law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise
thereof," and that "no religious test shall ever be required as a
qualification to any office or public trust under the United States." Only
in flagrant violation of these safeguards to the nation's liberty, can any
religious observance be enforced by civil authority. But the inconsistency of such
action is no greater than is represented in the symbol. It is the beast with
lamblike horns—in profession pure, gentle, and harmless—that
speaks as a dragon. {GC
442.2}

"Saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they
should [443]
make an image to the beast." Here is clearly presented a form of
government in which the legislative power rests with the people, a most
striking evidence that the United States is the nation denoted in the prophecy.
{GC 442.3}

But what is the "image to the beast"? and how is
it to be formed? The image is made by the two-horned beast, and is an image to
the beast. It is also called an image of the beast. Then to learn what
the image is like and how it is to be formed we must study the characteristics
of the beast itself—the papacy. {GC 443.1}

When the early church became corrupted by departing from the
simplicity of the gospel and accepting heathen rites and customs, she lost the
Spirit and power of God; and in order to control the consciences of the people,
she sought the support of the secular power. The result was the papacy, a
church that controlled the power of the state and employed it to further her
own ends, especially for the punishment of "heresy." In order for the
United States to form an image of the beast, the religious power must so
control the civil government that the authority of the state will also be
employed by the church to accomplish her own ends. {GC 443.2}

Whenever the church has obtained secular power, she has
employed it to punish dissent from her doctrines. Protestant churches that have
followed in the steps of Rome by forming alliance with worldly powers have
manifested a similar desire to restrict liberty of conscience. An example of
this is given in the long-continued persecution of dissenters by the Church of
England. During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, thousands of
nonconformist ministers were forced to flee from their churches, and many, both
of pastors and people, were subjected to fine, imprisonment, torture, and
martyrdom. {GC 443.3}

It was apostasy that led the early church to seek the aid of
the civil government, and this prepared the way for the development of the
papacy—the beast. Said Paul: "There" shall "come a
falling away, . . . and that man of sin be [444] revealed."
2 Thessalonians 2:3. So apostasy in the church will prepare the way for the
image to the beast. {GC
443.4}

The Bible declares that before the coming of the Lord there
will exist a state of religious declension similar to that in the first
centuries. "In the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers
of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to
parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false
accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof." 2 Timothy
3:1-5. "Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some
shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of
devils." 1 Timothy 4:1. Satan will work "with all power and signs and
lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness." And all
that "received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved,"
will be left to accept "strong delusion, that they should believe a
lie." 2 Thessalonians 2:9-11. When this state of ungodliness shall be
reached, the same results will follow as in the first centuries. {GC 444.1}

The wide diversity of belief in the Protestant churches is
regarded by many as decisive proof that no effort to secure a forced uniformity
can ever be made. But there has been for years, in churches of the Protestant
faith, a strong and growing sentiment in favor of a union based upon common
points of doctrine. To secure such a union, the discussion of subjects upon
which all were not agreed—however important they might be from a
Bible standpoint—must necessarily be waived. {GC 444.2}

Charles Beecher, in a sermon in the year 1846, declared that
the ministry of "the evangelical Protestant denominations" is
"not only formed all the way up under a tremendous pressure of merely
human fear, but they live, and move, and breathe in a state of things radically
corrupt, and appealing every hour to every baser element of their nature to
hush up [445]
the truth, and bow the knee to the power of apostasy. Was not this the way
things went with Rome? Are we not living her life over again? And what do we
see just ahead? Another general council! A world's convention! Evangelical
alliance, and universal creed!"—Sermon on "The Bible a
Sufficient Creed," delivered at Fort Wayne, Indiana, Feb. 22, 1846. When
this shall be gained, then, in the effort to secure complete uniformity, it
will be only a step to the resort to force. {GC 444.3}

When the leading churches of the United States, uniting upon
such points of doctrine as are held by them in common, shall influence the
state to enforce their decrees and to sustain their institutions, then
Protestant America will have formed an image of the Roman hierarchy, and the
infliction of civil penalties upon dissenters will inevitably result. {GC 445.1}

The beast with two horns "causeth [commands] all, both
small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right
hand, or in their foreheads: and that no man might buy or sell, save he that
had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name."
Revelation 13:16, 17. The third angel's warning is: "If any man worship
the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God." "The
beast" mentioned in this message, whose worship is enforced by the
two-horned beast, is the first, or leopardlike beast of Revelation 13 —
the papacy. The "image to the beast" represents that form of apostate
Protestantism which will be developed when the Protestant churches shall seek
the aid of the civil power for the enforcement of their dogmas. The "mark
of the beast" still remains to be defined. {GC 445.2}

After the warning against the worship of the beast and his
image the prophecy declares: "Here are they that keep the commandments of
God, and the faith of Jesus." Since those who keep God's commandments are
thus placed in contrast with those that worship the beast and his image and
receive his mark, it follows that the keeping of God's law, on the [446]
one hand, and its violation, on the other, will make the distinction between
the worshipers of God and the worshipers of the beast. {GC 445.3}

The special characteristic of the beast, and therefore of
his image, is the breaking of God's commandments. Says Daniel, of the little
horn, the papacy: "He shall think to change times and the law."
Daniel 7:25, R.V. And Paul styled the same power the "man of sin,"
who was to exalt himself above God. One prophecy is a complement of the other.
Only by changing God's law could the papacy exalt itself above God; whoever
should understandingly keep the law as thus changed would be giving supreme
honor to that power by which the change was made. Such an act of obedience to
papal laws would be a mark of allegiance to the pope in the place of God. {GC 446.1}

The papacy has attempted to change the law of God. The second
commandment, forbidding image worship, has been dropped from the law, and the
fourth commandment has been so changed as to authorize the observance of the
first instead of the seventh day as the Sabbath. But papists urge, as a reason
for omitting the second commandment, that it is unnecessary, being included in
the first, and that they are giving the law exactly as God designed it to be
understood. This cannot be the change foretold by the prophet. An intentional,
deliberate change is presented: "He shall think to change the times
and the law." The change in the fourth commandment exactly fulfills the
prophecy. For this the only authority claimed is that of the church. Here the
papal power openly sets itself above God. {GC 446.2}

While the worshipers of God will be especially distinguished
by their regard for the fourth commandment,—since this is the sign of
His creative power and the witness to His claim upon man's reverence and
homage,—the worshipers of the beast will be distinguished by their
efforts to tear down the Creator's memorial, to exalt the institution of Rome.
It was in behalf of the Sunday that popery first asserted its [447]
arrogant claims (see Appendix); and its first resort to the power of the state
was to compel the observance of Sunday as "the Lord's day." But the
Bible points to the seventh day, and not to the first, as the Lord's day. Said
Christ: "The Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath." The fourth
commandment declares: "The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord."
And by the prophet Isaiah the Lord designates it: "My holy day." Mark
2:28; Isaiah 58:13. {GC
446.3}

The claim so often put forth that Christ changed the Sabbath
is disproved by His own words. In His Sermon on the Mount He said: "Think
not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to
destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass,
one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be
fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and
shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but
whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the
kingdom of heaven," Matthew 5:17-19. {GC 447.1}

It is a fact generally admitted by Protestants that the
Scriptures give no authority for the change of the Sabbath. This is plainly
stated in publications issued by the American Tract Society and the American
Sunday School Union. One of these works acknowledges "the complete silence
of the New Testament so far as any explicit command for the Sabbath [Sunday,
the first day of the week] or definite rules for its observance are
concerned."—George Elliott, The Abiding Sabbath, page
184. {GC 447.2}

Another says: "Up to the time of Christ's death, no
change had been made in the day;" and, "so far as the record shows,
they [the apostles] did not . . . give any explicit command enjoining
the abandonment of the seventh-day Sabbath, and its observance on the first day
of the week."—A. E. Waffle, The Lord's Day, pages
186-188. {GC 447.3}

Roman Catholics acknowledge that the change of the Sabbath
was made by their church, and declare that Protestants [448] by
observing the Sunday are recognizing her power. In the Catholic Catechism of
Christian Religion, in answer to a question as to the day to be observed in
obedience to the fourth commandment, this statement is made: "During the
old law, Saturday was the day sanctified; but the church, instructed by
Jesus Christ, and directed by the Spirit of God, has substituted Sunday for
Saturday; so now we sanctify the first, not the seventh day. Sunday means, and
now is, the day of the Lord." {GC 447.4}

As the sign of the authority of the Catholic Church, papist
writers cite "the very act of changing the Sabbath into Sunday, which
Protestants allow of; . . . because by keeping Sunday, they
acknowledge the church's power to ordain feasts, and to command them under
sin."—Henry Tuberville, An Abridgment of the Christian
Doctrine, page 58. What then is the change of the Sabbath, but the sign, or
mark, of the authority of the Roman Church—"the mark of the
beast"? {GC 448.1}

The Roman Church has not relinquished her claim to
supremacy; and when the world and the Protestant churches accept a sabbath of
her creating, while they reject the Bible Sabbath, they virtually admit this
assumption. They may claim the authority of tradition and of the Fathers for
the change; but in so doing they ignore the very principle which separates them
from Rome—that "the Bible, and the Bible only, is the religion
of Protestants." The papist can see that they are deceiving themselves,
willingly closing their eyes to the facts in the case. As the movement for
Sunday enforcement gains favor, he rejoices, feeling assured that it will
eventually bring the whole Protestant world under the banner of Rome. {GC 448.2}

Romanists declare that "the observance of Sunday by the
Protestants is an homage they pay, in spite of themselves, to the authority of
the [Catholic] Church."—Mgr. Segur, Plain Talk About the
Protestantism of Today, page 213. The enforcement of Sundaykeeping on the
part of Protestant churches is an enforcement of the worship of the papacy—of
the beast. Those who, understanding the claims of the fourth [449]
commandment, choose to observe the false instead of the true Sabbath are
thereby paying homage to that power by which alone it is commanded. But in the
very act of enforcing a religious duty by secular power, the churches would
themselves form an image to the beast; hence the enforcement of Sundaykeeping
in the United States would be an enforcement of the worship of the beast and
his image. {GC 448.3}

But Christians of past generations observed the Sunday,
supposing that in so doing they were keeping the Bible Sabbath; and there are
now true Christians in every church, not excepting the Roman Catholic
communion, who honestly believe that Sunday is the Sabbath of divine
appointment. God accepts their sincerity of purpose and their integrity before
Him. But when Sunday observance shall be enforced by law, and the world shall
be enlightened concerning the obligation of the true Sabbath, then whoever
shall transgress the command of God, to obey a precept which has no higher
authority than that of Rome, will thereby honor popery above God. He is paying
homage to Rome and to the power which enforces the institution ordained by
Rome. He is worshiping the beast and his image. As men then reject the
institution which God has declared to be the sign of His authority, and honor
in its stead that which Rome has chosen as the token of her supremacy, they
will thereby accept the sign of allegiance to Rome—"the mark of
the beast." And it is not until the issue is thus plainly set before the
people, and they are brought to choose between the commandments of God and the
commandments of men, that those who continue in transgression will receive
"the mark of the beast." {GC 449.1}

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The most fearful threatening ever addressed to mortals is
contained in the third angel's message. That must be a terrible sin which calls
down the wrath of God unmingled with mercy. Men are not to be left in darkness
concerning this important matter; the warning against this sin is to be given
to the world before the visitation of God's judgments, that all may know why
they are to be inflicted, and have [450] opportunity to
escape them. Prophecy declares that the first angel would make his announcement
to "every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people." The warning
of the third angel, which forms a part of the same threefold message, is to be
no less widespread. It is represented in the prophecy as being proclaimed with
a loud voice, by an angel flying in the midst of heaven; and it will command
the attention of the world. {GC
449.2}

In the issue of the contest all Christendom will be divided
into two great classes—those who keep the commandments of God and the
faith of Jesus, and those who worship the beast and his image and receive his
mark. Although church and state will unite their power to compel "all,
both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond" (Revelation 13:16), to
receive "the mark of the beast," yet the people of God will not
receive it. The prophet of Patmos beholds "them that had gotten the
victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the
number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God"
and singing the song of Moses and the Lamb. Revelation 15:2, 3. {GC 450.1}